Monthly Archives: January 2008

Gadgets January 31, 2008 posted by

iLuv i1155 8.4 inch DVD Player iPod Dock – mix and match your multimedia playback with style

iLuv i1155 Multimedia Player with iPod Dock. Pretty slick looking pro-duct, plays DVDs and your iPod video on the 8.4 inch TFT LCD screen. Copes with 5G iPods (as well as the Nano via an adapter) and comes with a Lithium Polymer rechargeable battery and a car adapter to make it truly portable. Oh and the remote control works with the docked iPod too, which is neato shmeato. $249.99.  Play back from DVD or your iPod video through the 8.4″…

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cool tech January 31, 2008 posted by

Unity Telephone – satisfying your deepest cell phone, land line and Bluetooth needs

The Unity Telephone offers instant convergence between your mobile and landline phones via cable and, more interestingly, Bluetooth. This means you can wirelessly share your phone directory between the two, as well as texting, one touch cell phone dialling and a bunch of other goodies to make your life more complete. Looks good for people who want to use up their mobile service minutes while at home. The device will pair up with 8 mobile handsets, although you can only use one of them…

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cool tech January 31, 2008 posted by

Boiling water with sound waves? – new invention baffles scientist

A 92 year old New Zealander is claiming to have invented a product which can boil water using sound. The as yet unnamed device, which looks like a smooth silver golf ball, is baffling scientists, or at least one particular professor who’s taken a look. It could of course be a huge prank, but if it isn’t, it’ll be a pretty cool gadget to have in your cubicle or kitchen. This news report video is interesting. [Via Boingboing]  A 92-year-old Christchurch inventor…

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Bookmark This! January 31, 2008 posted by

Super Zoom – you want to see just how close satellite images can get…?

Super Zoom. Looks like those satellite images from space are coming closer, apparently equivalent to looking out of a 10 story window. I swear I can see a guy picking his nose near HMS Belfast. Yikes. Be prepared for some scary stuff coming down the pipe in the future.  The image quality is three times better than Google Maps and Microsoft Live Maps and streets ahead of Multimap. For an average screen resolution, 192.com’s Super Zoom shows 1.5 metres on the ground for…

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Bookmark This! January 31, 2008 posted by

10 universities offering free writing courses online – the moving finger writes and having writ, moves on…

10 Universities offering free writing courses online. Tell me something. Why do education sites in the USA always *look* like education sites? You know, with that weird banner, book logo, typeface, nav bar thing? Is there a club or something? Anyhoo, here’s a nice offer for you budding ‘Emmingways. Lots of juicy writing courses for you to enjoy and profit from. Go for it! [Via Metafilter]  Whether you are a current writer or looking to break into the craft, formal…

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Bookmark This! January 31, 2008 posted by

Open Domain – free open source web domains for you to use as you wish

Open Domain. What a fascinating idea, chile. An offer of free domains to use for worthy causes (commercial or otherwise) for no charge at all. You don’t get to keep the domains, you can just use them for nothing. No pop-ups, objectionable content, spam, copyright breaking etc. Lovely idea guys!  We have many domains that are planned for future development, that due to time constraints, we are unable to use at this time. We are firm believers of the internet…

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Gadgets January 30, 2008 posted by

TearDrop Water Resistant iPod Speaker – don’t splash, just listen…

TearDrop Water Resistant iPod Speaker. It’s probably important to state at this point that although these bathroom friendly speakers may be resistant to water, your iPod almost certainly isn’t. So do be careful not to drop it anywhere damp, won’t you? $58.00.  A delightful addition to the bathroom ambiance. This imaginative water-resistant iPod speaker is operated on batteries, allowing your favorite music to surround you anywhere you are…bathrooms, kitchens, backyards, or even beaches! Hottest GIFT item in Japan this holiday…

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Gadgets January 30, 2008 posted by

World Time Zone TV Remote Control Watch – watch shows from countries in different time zones

World Time Zone TV Remote Control Watch. It’s clear that this TV remote control watch offers a lot less than the sum of its total wordage. What does that mean? About as much as the world time zone bevel round the edge of the dial, dear reader. $12.50.  This watch can control many kinds of brand TV VCR and DVD. It only needs a CR2032 LI battery to supply the power. When the display is not clear or the control…

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Gadgets January 30, 2008 posted by

PlantWatcher – new device automatically waters your plants through root suction

PlantWatcher. New gizmo claims to revolutionise unattended plant watering by using a special sensor to deliver just the right amount of H2O for the plant’s needs. It all sounds very clever, and with a single unit delivering enough water for a 12 inch pot plant for a month, very useful. I’d love to try one out and see if it delivers on the promise. Priced from $7.95 for the smallest size pot.  Because root demand turns the PlantWatcher on and off,…

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Bookmark This! January 30, 2008 posted by

Roxer web site creator – fast, simple and very cool web design tool

Roxer is cool. Very cool. Yes it’s just a web site creator, but my how far we’ve come since the drudgy days of Geocities peeps. The whole thing takes minimalism to a new dimension. Want to edit your page? Click the padlock bottom left, and drag and drop your elements around the page instantly. No mess, no fuss. Text, menu items, images, makes no difference. The control panel for all this editing loveliness is a tiny bar, again bottom left…

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Cool Web Apps & Sites January 30, 2008 posted by

Hands on with the Qtrax music service – or rather hands off…

Well, this probably has to rank as one of the most disastrous tech launches of recent times, possibly even rivalling the infamous boo.com fiasco of Boom 1.0. Qtrax, the much hyped ‘free and legal music download’ service, finally sent out beta download invitations yesterday, and we were as keen as mustard to get a look at this important new tech in action. So naturally we rushed off and patiently downloaded the beta software and installed the rejigged Songbird music client….

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hmm..interesting January 30, 2008 posted by

Copyright on Cease & Desist letter not quite so clear cut – headlines don’t tell the whole story

Just a quick note to mention that the furore around copyright attaching to cease & desist letters sent out to web sites is apparently not as cut and dried as the headlines would have us believe. Just thought you ought to know. More here.  The district court in this case decided that the validity of the copyright should be determined after the plaintiffs actually filed their lawsuit for copyright infringement. It did not, as the press release implies, make a…

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Gadgets January 29, 2008 posted by

Mini DV with Sporty Cam – two-in-one combo is perfect for loungers and leapers

Mini DV with Sporty Cam. A rather fetching 2–in-1 combo 5 megapixel DV camcorder with ‘night mode’ sports cam attached. Hey, and it’s an MP3 player too. Bonus! Just attach the sporty bit to your helmet and jump. Or crawl. Or hop or whatever. All while listening to your favourite sounds. When you get back to the hotel you can review the footage on the 2 inch LCD screen. Magic dubloons! £99.99.  This fantastic multi-function mini pocket DV Camera (with added sporty…

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